Thesis
Information processing and credibility perception on Facebook
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2013
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102394
Abstract
The dual processing models in social psychology explain information-processing through two routes, central or peripheral and in two different ways heuristically or systematically. Forming a perception of credibility for any piece of information requires processing information. Being cognitive misers, humans have been known to base their perception of credibility on credibility cues if and when they are present. In social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook, which are rich in cues, the temptation to take the easy information-processing route seems inevitable. An experiment employed mock screenshots from Facebook to test the effect of heuristic cues on perceived credibility of newsworthy content written as a status update. A sample of 265 undergraduate communication students participated in a study that tested the effect of source credibility, number of comments and number of likes on the perceived credibility of the status update after controlling for the effect of covariates. Source credibility and need for cognition significantly affected the perceived credibility of the status update, reconfirming the importance of traditional credibility factors over heuristic cues in social networking sites.
Metrics
7 File views/ downloads
27 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Information processing and credibility perception on Facebook
- Creators
- Subuhi Khan
- Contributors
- Prabu David (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525172901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis